Rotary internal-combustion engine.



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H. A. SMITH, JR.

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN-30.1918.

Patented Apr. 8,1919.

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H. A. SMITH, In. ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. 'APPLICATIQN FILED JAN. so. 1918. 1 ,3O(),()36 Patented Apr. 8,1919.

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H A SMITH JR 7 ROTARY INTERNAL comsusnow ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN 30 l9l8 Patented Apr. 8,1919.

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max A. sum, .13., or nurmno, NEW YORK.

BOTABY AL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Application med January to, 1918. j Serial No. 214,514.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. SMITH, Jr., a citizen of United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Internal- Gombustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and more particularly to a rotary engine or motor in'which the gas 1s compressed .in stationary cylinders by cams which act upon compressing pinions, and m which the ignited or exploded gas exhausts against the pistons or blades earned by a rotor, for rotating the. rotor.

Another object of this invention is to provide valves for controlling the exhaust ports of the cylinders which valves are operated by cams carried by the rotors so that the valves will be moved into an opening position when the piston heads are positioned properly to be engaged by the exploding gas and further to provide a stationary cam structure engaging the piston heads or blades for forcing them inwardly after-they have traveled a predetermined distance of the circumference or rotation of the rotor to allow them to pass the other cylinders of the motor, and'also to provide springs to project the piston heads or blades intoan opposite position when they reach proper positions with relation to the stationary compressing cylinders.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention consists in such novel.

features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and claimed- In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters designate like and corresponding parts throughout the several veiws and in which:

Figure 1 is vertical section through the improved motor.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

4: is a fragmentary section taken at right angles to the section illustrated in Fig. 2, and illustratingthe exhaust port controllinlg valve of the air compressing cylinder.

igl 5 isv'a side elevationo f the improved motor.

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of the iston heads of the rotor.

Fig. is a detail perspective view of the exhaust valve. r

Fig. 8 is. a section on the line 88 of Fig. 3.

eferring more particularly to the drawings, 1 deslgnates the supporting standards of the motor, which have suitable bearings 2 carried by their upper ends which bearings in turn support the motor.

The shaft 3 has a disk 4 keyed thereon as shown at 5 which disk forms one side of the motor casing and has a sleeve 6 formed centrally thereof which encompasses the shaft 3 and forms a bearing for a rotatable section 7 of the motor. v

The stationary disk4 has a circular inwardly extending enlargement 8 formed upon its inner surface which enlargement is provided with a plurality of bores 9 extending inwardly from the circumference of thesame, which bores form compressing cylinders and they have pistons 10 reciprocably mounted therein. nected to the pistons 10 and they are slidably carried by spider structures 12 which are screwed in the upper end of the bores 9. The outer ends of the piston rods 11 are engaged by the inner surface of an internal cam 14 which is formed upon the rim 15 of the rotary section or portion 7 of the motor. Pins 16 extend through the piston rods 11 and springs 17 are coiled about the piston rods, engaging the-pins 16 and the spiders 12 for normally forcing the piston upwardly and outwardly when the outer ends of the pistons reach the abrupt shoulder 18of the internal cam structure 14. During the rotation of the internal cam structure 14 the piston heads are forced downwardly within the cylinder bores 9 by the portions 19 of the inthe stationary shaft 3 of Piston rods 11 are con ternal cam which are concentric with the cenwithin the bores 9, creating a suction through the inlets or intakes20 of each bore 9, and consequently drawing charge of gas into the bores. Any ordinary type of intake valve as illustrated at 21 maybe provided for controlling the intake of gas into the bores. The pistons 10 and consequently the piston rods 11 remain at their outermost positions for a relatively short time, or during the time in which the outer ends of the piston rods are engaged by the relatlvely 'short concentric portions 22 afterwhich the pistons 10 are gradually forced inwardly for compressing the gas within: the bores 9 by the inclined surfaces 23 of the internal cam structure while'the gas is held compressed within the bores during the travel of the pis-' ton rods overthe concentric portions 19 of the internal cam. Y

The compressed gas is fired within the lower ends of the bores 9 and it escapes out ,of the outlet openings 24 of each bore, im-

pinging against the piston heads or blades 25 carried by the inwardly extending circular portion 33 of the rotor or rotary section 7 of the engine.

The exhaust ports or outlet openings 24 of the bores 9 are-normally held closed by valve plates 26 which are slidablysupported along side of the bores 9 .and which are normally held in closing position by springs 27 which are mounted in bores 28 formed in the inwardly extending enlargement 8.

\ The springs 27' engage pins 29 carried by the rotary section 7, for moving the valve plates 26 into an open positionat the time of the firing or exploding of the compressed gas within the bores 9 and at the proper yes is provided with a concave time when the piston heads or blades 25 are positioned with relation to the bores 9, to receive the impact of the exploding gas.

The pistons 25 are slidably carried by the circular sections 33 of the rotor and they have springs 35 coiled about which are formed upon the piston heads. The springs 35 tend'to force the piston heads or blades 35 outwardly, into an extended operative position and the pistons are forced inwardly within the openings 37, in which they ride, b' the engagement of their outer ends with tlie inner cam surface ofthe stationary inwardly extending enlargement 8. The inner cam' surface of the enlargement 8 9 0 terminates in abrupt'k shoulder valve plates26 so 'asjtoj allowit the rods 7. 36

which to force the pistons 25 outwardly to the has exhausted against it, and after it has passed beneath the second cylinder and reached the abrupt shoulder of the concave portion 40 of the inner cam surface it will spring outwardly to. receive the impact of the exploding gas from the second gas compressing piston throughout the entire operation of the motor.

; In theconstruction of the engine or motor,

there are twice as many piston blades as there are gas compressing cylinders, as will be noted by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, that permitting in an engine, embbdying the number of cylinders and pistons illustrated in Fig. 1, 32 explosions to each revolution of the rotary element, since that each of the cylinders fires twice.

The rotary section? has'an amiular inwardly extending flange 46 attached to'the free edge of the rimsections'15thereof which flange extends intoan annular recess 47 formed in the periphery of the stationary disk 4. Suitable ball bearings as indicated at 48 may be'providedat the bearing surfaces between the flange 46 and the disk 4 if desired. The flange 46 is made in two sections as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, which sections -are connected by right angularly extending flanges 49.-

If it is so desired, ball bearings as indicated at 50 may be provided at the engagingbearing surfaces of the rotary and stationary part of the motor. The gas exhausts, after it has been exvploded, against the pistons 25, through suitable exhaust openings 55 which are formed near the point at which the movements of the extended positions of the pistons 25 'terminate, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

from the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings the advantages of construction and the method of operation of the improved rotary internal combustion engines will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains and, while in the foregoing description, theprinciple of the operation of this invention has been described together with various features of 4 ,iconstruction, it is to be understood that certain minor features of construction, combination-"and arrangement of parts may be such alterations are comprehended within the scope of what is claimed.

What is claimed is: 1. In an internal combustion engine, a

stator having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressmg pistons in said bores, a rotor having inner and outer portions between which the stator is vdisposed, pistons carried by the inner portion of said rotor andmeans for causing gases exg ploded within the cylinder bores to act upon said pistons carried by the inner portion of the rotor so as tocause rotation of saidrotor, the outer portion of the rotor serving to operate said pistons.

2. In an internal combustion engine, a stator having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons in said bores, a rotor having an inner portion arranged within the stator, and an outer portion encircling the stator, said outer portion being adapted to operate said gas compressing pistons, pistons slidably carried by the inner portion of said rotor and arranged whereby the exploded gas passing from said cylinder bores will impinge against the slidable pistons.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a stator having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing-pistons in said bores, a rotor having an inner portion arranged within the stator and an outer portion encircling the stator, pistons slidably carried by theinner portion of said rotor and arranged whereby the exploded gas exhausting from said cylinder bores will impinge against the slidable pistons, means normally holding said slidable pistons inan extended operative position, cam surfacescarried by said stator for forcing said pistons inwardly into inoperative position, and a cam structure carried by said outer portion of the rotor to operate said gas compressing pistons.

4. In an internal combustion engine, a stator having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons operative in said bores, a rotor having inner and outer portions between which the stator is arranged, and an internal cam structure carried by said outer portion of the rotor and operable to actuate said gas compressing pistons to compress the gas in said bores, and means carried by the inner portion of the rotor and adapted to be actuated by gases exploded within the cylinder bores for causing rotation of said rotor.

5. In an internal combustion engine, a

stator-having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons in said bores, valves for controlling the exhaust of gas from said bores, means normally holding said valves in closing positions, a rotor, pistons lidably carried by said rotor and arranged whereby exploded gas exhausting from said cylinder will impinge against the slidable pistons, and cams carried by said rotor and engaging said exhaust controlling valves for permitting the exhaust of, eX- ploded gas from said bores.

6. In an internal combustion engine, a stator having a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons in said bores, valves for controlling the exhaust of gas from said bores, means normally holding said valves in closing positions, a rotor, pistons slidably carried by said rotor and arranged whereby exploded gas exhausting from said cylinder will impinge against the slidable pistons, cams carried by saidrotor and engaging said exhaust controlling valves for permitting the exhaust of exploded gas from said bores, an internal cam carried by said rotor, piston rods attached to said gas compressing pistons and engaged by said internal cam whereby said cam will operate said pistons to compress gas in said bores.

7. In an internal combustion engine, a stator having a. plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons in said bores, piston rods connected to said pistons, a rotor, and an internal cam structure carried by said rotor and engaging said piston rods to operate said pistons to compress gas in said bores.

8. In an internal combustion engine, a statorhaving a plurality of cylinder bores formed therein, gas compressing pistons in said bores, piston rods connected to said pistons, a rotor, an internal cam structure car ried by said rotor and engaging said piston rods to operate said pistons to compress gas in said bores, valve plates to control the exhaust of exploded gas from said cylinders,

against.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARRY A. SMITH, J R. Witnesses: I

WnmAM'H. FAnAcrmR, WILLIAM E. Torrmo. 

